This invention relates to indicating urgency of a call through a distinctive notification (e.g., distinctive ringing).
Many efforts have been made to provide a called party with more information about a call so that the called party can make a more informed decision as to whether to take the call. For example, a person may subscribe to a calling line identification (CLID) service such that, when a call rings through, the called party can view the number (and/or name) of the caller and thereby be better able to decide on whether or not to take the call. A person may also subscribe to a distinctive ring service. In this case, several destination numbers (xe2x80x9cDNxe2x80x9ds) are assigned to the person""s line and a telephone terminating the line rings with a different ring pattern dependent upon which DN was dialled to reach the line. In this way, different potential callers may be given different DNs so that the called party will have additional information about the call prior to answering same. While these approaches give a called party additional information, they give no direct information regarding the urgency of a call. Call urgency would be useful information to the called party in deciding whether to take the call.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,578 to Brennan, a person may subscribe to a personal communications service. In such case, when a caller dials a personal number (xe2x80x9cPNxe2x80x9d) of the subscriber, the caller is connected through to an interactive software personal agent. The personal agent interacts with the caller to obtain information. One query the personal agent may make is as to the urgency of the call. The caller may indicate urgency through appropriate dual tone multi-frequency (xe2x80x9cDTMFxe2x80x9d) entries. Thereafter, the personal agent may connect through to the called party and announce the identity of the caller and the urgency level indicated by the caller. While this allows the called party to make an informed decision as to whether to take the call, there may be situations where it is inconvenient for a subscriber to take a call from his or her personal agent.
Accordingly, a need exists for a convenient approach to deliver information to a called party regarding the urgency of a call.
The present invention receives an indication of urgency of a call from a caller and communicates urgency to the called party through a distinctive notification such as, for example, by distinctive ringing.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method of call handling, comprising: receiving an indication of urgency of a call for a called station; and responsive to said indication, where said called station is on hook, sending signals for generating a distinctive notification indicative of urgency.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of call handling, comprising: receiving an indication of urgency of a call; and responsive to said indication, sending signals for generating a distinctive ring indicative of urgency.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of call handling, comprising: receiving from a calling station an indication of urgency of a call to a called station; and responsive to said indication, sending signals to said called station for generating a distinctive ring indicative of urgency.
According to a yet further aspect of the invention, there is provided a service node comprising: means for receiving an indication of urgency of a call for a called station; and means for, responsive to said indication, where said called station is on hook, sending signals for generating a distinctive notification indicative of urgency.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a communications system comprising: means for receiving an indication of urgency of a call for a called station; and means for, responsive to said indication, where said called station is on hook, sending signals for generating a distinctive notification indicative of urgency.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer readable medium containing instructions which, when performed by a service node, cause the service node to: receive an indication of urgency of a call for a called station; and responsive to said indication, where said called station is on hook, send signals for generating a distinctive notification indicative of urgency.
According to a yet further aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave comprising: a set of urgency level indicators for a call for a called station; and a distinctive notification corresponding to each urgency level indicator in said set of urgency level indicators.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a database storing a set of urgency level indicators and, for each urgency level indicator, a unique distinctive ringing pattern.